The Real Mockingjay
by RoxasHart
Summary: Another take on Mockingjay. What really happened after Catching Fire? The true story of the rebellion.
1. Prologue

"Katniss."

Haymitch warned me. He said that there were things in Thirteen that would shock me. His warning was not enough and not just because I was barely listening to him, my anger clouding my hearing. Nothing could have prepared me for the shock that I received when I stepped off the ramp of the hovercraft. A lot of things ran through my mind as I was strapped to that bed. A million possibilities of what I might find in the long thought destroyed district. This was not one of them.

"Katniss."

Gale tried to ease the shock. The words he tried to say after telling me about the destruction of my home were supposed to soften this blow, but I couldn't understand them. Saying that everything goes so much farther than we could have ever imagined. Deeper than the rebellion, the Games, all of it. All the way to the past. It makes sense to me now.

"Katniss."

What does this mean? It's just more lies. More deception. And not just coming from the Capitol. Everyone is lying to me. Telling me what they think I want to hear, so I will do what they want. And look what it has gotten me. Gale hurt by the fire bombs. Peeta in the arms of the Capital. Who knows what kind of harm they are doing to him? Even Joanna Mason, who a couple days ago, I hated. She was a pawn in this just as much as Peeta and I were. Now she is paying the price for it.

"Katniss, say something."

What should I say? What can I say? This is too much. It's taking everything inside me not to run and find Haymitch and try to claw his eyes out again. He knew all this time and kept it from me, just like everything else. Made fun of me even. And now standing in front of me is the impossible.

It does go so much farther than I could have imagined.

I open my mouth to say the only thing that I can force out. "Dad?"


	2. Chapter 1

"I know you have a million questions. It's natural. We will get you all the answers you need. I promise." The man who looks and sounds very much like my father is leading me through the corridors leading into the depths of District Thirteen. He said something about Command, but shock is keeping me from processing exactly what that means.

How can this be my father? It's impossible. Who was in that mine that exploded years ago? Who was it that I cried over night after night? My father can't be walking in front of me when he has been dead for six years. I have six years of nightmares to keep me from believing it.

"Where's Mom? Where's Prim?"

"They're in the hospital. Your mother has been tending to the injured from Twelve. Prim has been helping. She's been remarkable in there. It's amazing how much she has grown, how much both of you…"

He lets the sentence hang in the air. He has to realize that I am not ready for this. We can't have this level of closeness. Not yet. Not after everything that I have been through.

The corridors are leading us further and further down. All of District Thirteen is underground. I guess Bonnie and Twill were right the whole time. The entire district moved underground. The destruction of Thirteen was vast. The only thing left was the ruins that the Capital showed on the television every once in a while to frighten us. Unlike what we were shown, the real ones aren't still smoking. Grass has started to grow in the cracks of the half destroyed Justice Building. Nature has taken over what was left behind.

But the people survived. Seventy five years ago, the leaders were well aware of what the Capital was planning. Before the Dark Days even began, Thirteen had people working on the underground structures that would one day be their home. So when the bombs were dropped, very few people actually lost their lives. That's more than can be said for the people of Twelve.

Gale is the reason anyone survived at all. His entire family was at my house, watching the Games when our escape was made. When the explosions started in the arena, the electricity was cut. Gale assumed it was only the beginning. He was right. It took him seconds to gather up both our families and start running. Screaming through the streets, people started to join them. The planes reached them before they even made it to the Meadow. The bombs started to fall. The district went up in flames. People burned as they ran. When they reached the Meadow, Gale, along with many others ripped the fence out of the ground. They flooded into the woods, not caring about the animals that they were so scared of before.

For hours, they ran. The smoke and fire from Twelve was all they could see. It wasn't until they reached my lake that they stopped. They were far enough that they couldn't feel the ground shake from the bombs anymore. But they were still falling. The planes kept up the attack for hours, even though they had already destroyed everything. It was a true show of their power.

Thirteen's hovercrafts started to show up when the last of the planes had finally left. They picked up the survivors and took them away to the hidden depths of a new district.

I should be happy about this. My mother and sister were among that group rescued from the lake. But something is blocking me. If it weren't for Thirteen, the thousand or so people who got out might not be alive. The Capital could have sent the planes back to where the survivors were hiding. It's a good thing that Thirteen was there. But that just leaves me with the question, "Where have they been all this time?"

"We're here, Katniss." We've stopped in front of a set of metal double doors. I have no idea how deep in the ground we are. I stopped paying attention halfway down. My feet have just been blindly following this man. "Welcome to Command."

With a push of a button, the doors slide open. Inside is a vast room, unlike anything I have ever seen before, even in the Capitol. All four walls are completely covered in computers, some with screens as big as a wall of my old house in the Seam. The screens are alive with pictures of many different places. There are only a few that I recognize. One shows the town square in District 11, though it looks a lot different from when I went through on the Victory Tour.

I stick close because I suddenly don't want to be left alone in this strange place. The man is the only person I can cling to at this moment. It's hard to attach yourself but keep your distance at the same time.

"Ms. Everdeen, it is a great honor to meet you." A woman a couple inches taller than me quickly walks towards us. Her grey hair is long and is pulled back into a pony tail that hangs down her back. "I'm Paranyia Coin. I'm president of District Thirteen."

President Coin. President of Thirteen. What does the job of the president of a lost district entail? Does she sit by all these giant screens and watch the devastation that has been running rampant through all the other districts? Do they have nightly showings of the Hunger Games, like all the other houses in Panem, only with more food? Is that what this whole district has been doing all these years while we've starved to death?

President Coin is looking at me, expecting me to say something, but what is there to say? I have no words for this woman. What could she possibly expect me to say right now?

When no words are forthcoming, she decides to fill the void. "I'm sure you must still be in fair amount of shock after everything that you have been through. Please, sit and we'll talk."

A hand leads me to one of the chairs that surround the table in the center of this giant room. I don't want to look behind me, but I know the hand belongs to that man. I really wish my mother was here. I need to see a comforting face right now. I am surrounded by people who I don't know or trust.

The chair is comfortable, but I am not. I could probably make it to the door before any of them could stop me. But then what? I have no idea how to get out of here. I should have been paying more attention on the trip down. Besides, I couldn't leave. Somewhere in this underground maze is my mother and Prim. I can't leave them behind. Not again.

"Ms. Everdeen…"

"Katniss. My name is Katniss."

"Katniss, I know you have a lot of questions. There's no way that you couldn't. You've had very little time to process a great deal of information. We are going to try to answer anything you might want to know. You're father…"

I give a physical jerk to her calling the man that. She notices and lets the subject drop. I am making this difficult for her. But what else can I do? I don't know this woman or this man sitting next to me. I haven't exactly made a habit of trusting people that I don't know.

"Perhaps it would be better if we waited for the leader to arrive." The man next to me nods his head in agreement.

"The leader? You aren't the leader?"

"I'm the president of District Thirteen, not the leader of this rebellion. That I'm afraid is beyond my capabilities. I'm a gifted diplomat, but it takes an extraordinary strategist to pull off this kind of coup."

So what would happen if this leader didn't exist? Since she is not a strategist, would she have never come to our aid? Would she just have sat in this underground bunker until all of the other districts were destroyed? What about after that?

President Coin seems to be following my thoughts because the expression on her face changes drastically. Her eyes seem softer, losing the look of joy she had when she first met me. "You must think us terrible. This whole district sitting here well fed, while your family has been starving and forced to fight in the Games."

"The thought did cross my mind."

"I completely understand, Katniss. How could you think anything else after everything you've been through? There are…"

Her words are cut off by a man running over to the table and whispering words in her ear. Her eyes swiftly change again, hardening. She looks over to the man. "It's time." Both of them sit up straighter in their chairs.

I'm confused. Looking around me I ask, "What's it time for?"

"The leader's hovercraft has arrived. It shouldn't be long now." Is it just me or do I hear a crack in Coin's voice? Could she be nervous?

"Who is this leader?"

"You'll find out in a moment." A hand falls on my shoulder. I flinch, but my nerves are too on edge to do anything to remove it. Soon I am going to have to face the fact about who this man says he is, but there is no time right now.

It seems that the whole room is a little on edge. People are working hard to appear busy at their different screens, even the ones who have nothing to do. Is this leader such an opposing figure that all these people are scared? What kind of person, besides President Snow, can have that kind of effect on people?

The doors to Command slide open and a group of men are standing there. They look very much like the Peacekeepers that have been plaguing the districts, but their uniforms are different. They also don't look as hard and mean as the ones that we have become used to. They look more like the old ones that I grew up with, like Darius.

The soldiers march into the room. They are surrounding someone. This must be the leader. As the men step aside to reveal the important person that they are protecting, I am suddenly glad that I am sitting down. I couldn't take this shock standing up.

"I hope everyone is ready for another big, big, big day." Effie Trinket stands there with a beaming smile on her face.


End file.
